Toshiba Completes First TF Coil Case for ITER

NEWS

Nuclear Power

December 12 2018

Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation

Kawasaki, Japan — Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Toshiba ESS) today announced that it has manufactured the first coil case that will hold the toroidal field (TF) coil for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) being constructed in Cadarache, Saint Paul-lez-Durance, France. This order was made by The National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) in February 2014, and Toshiba ESS began manufacturing the equipment in September 2016 after conducting production verification tests. Toshiba ESS will ship the containers to the assembly plant in Italy for use at ITER this month.

The ITER project aims to demonstrate nuclear fusion as a viable future energy source. The project is funded and run by seven member entities: Japan, the European Union, the United States, Russia, China, South Korea and India. Thermonuclear fusion occurs in high temperature deuterium-tritium plasma at the order of 100 million degrees Celsius, and the heat produced by the fusion reaction is used to generate electricity. Because the source of nuclear fusion fuel is abundant in nature, thermonuclear fusion, once proven, is expected to become a perpetual source of energy.

TF coils are used to produce strong magnetic fields that confine the high-temperature plasma necessary for nuclear fusion to occur. 18 coils will be used for ITER. TF coils are D-shaped and are the largest-scale superconducting coils in the world at 16.5 m in height, 9 m in width, and weighing about 300 tons. These coils consist of superconducting coil and coil case to hold the coil. Toshiba is in charge of manufacturing four TF coils and six coil cases for European Union.

“I’m pleased that we successfully completed the first coil case that will hold the TFcoil for ITER,” said Mr. Goro Yanase, Vice President of the Nuclear Energy Systems & Services Div. at Toshiba ESS. “Toshiba ESS will continue to contribute to ITER, which will initiate plasma experiments in 2025 with QST, by supplying TF coils and containers, which require a highly precise processing technology to produce. Toshiba ESS obtained this technology through our knowledge and high manufacturing ability developed over a long period of time for large equipment related to energy.”

Toshiba ESS will contribute to research and development of the most advanced energy technology using its fusion technology developed over many years.

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